TWO CENTURIES LATER, A NEW REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION WILL BE ENFORCING THE MONROE DOCTRINE AGAINST CHINA

Two hundred years ago, US Secretary of State John Quincy Adams promulgated THE MONROE DOCTRINE for President James Monroe, who announced it during a State of the Union Address. It is an American foreign policy principle which holds that any intervention in the political affairs of the Americans by a foreign power is considered to be a hostile act against the United States. Since that time, the US has taken diplomatic, economic, political and even military, action to enforce that policy, to keep foreign actors out of the Western Hemisphere.

While some American administrations have chosen to rely upon "Soft Power" to enforce the Monroe Doctrine, many others, notably those led by Republican presidents, have taken strong and effective action when they deem it to be in the national interests of the United States, and particularly when national security is at issue. During the first Trump Administration, we note that both US Secretary of State REX TILLERSON and National Security Advisor JOHN BOLTON publicly invoked the Monroe Doctrine, in describing their administration's policy regarding the Americas. We can expect that this new administration's position will be consistent with those previous statements.

The issue has arisen of a potential national security threat from the emerging role of private Chinese companies in the region, regarding whether those entities are outside the policy's scope; the LODGE COROLLARY to the Doctrine prohibits "The occupation of any place in the American Continent by any corporation or association, connected with any other government, which threatens the safety of this government, and which would give such other government practical control of such place for military purposes." It was passed by the United States Senate after a Japanese-controlled company sought to establish sovereignty over Mexico's Baja Peninsula, facts quite similar to the present situation involving China and land it is acquiring, located in Antigua. Other Chinese projects located in Latin America may also be considered by the new American administration to be in violation of the Monroe Doctrine.

What action the United States will take, regarding Antigua, and a number of other ongoing Chinese projects, we cannot say, but the last time America invoked the Doctrine, after a coup had taken place in Grenada, and an airport which would have given the Soviet Union the capability of landing transport aircraft was under construction by the Cuban military, it involved direct action by American forces. When it comes to enforcing the Monroe Doctrine, history tells us that the United States will undertake whatsoever action it deems necessary and proper under the circumstances. We are hopeful for a diplomatic, or at worse an economic, solution to the problem. It is hoped that China will understand this, and govern itself accordingly.